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Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Ronnie Cuber, WDR Big Band: Center Stage
by Jack Bowers
Mixed emotions must underline this review. Center Stage, featuring bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Steve Gadd and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber with Germany's superb WDR Big Band conducted by Michael Abene, was recorded in Cologne in January and February 2022. Sadly, Ronnie Cuber passed away in October, shortly after the album was released. If this was Cuber's last hurrah, it thunders loudly above the rooftops, as his solos (on each of the album's nine numbers) and melodic passages ...
read moreRonnie Cuber, Oscar Peterson, Stan Bock & Morgan Faw
by Joe Dimino
We begin the 775th Episode of Neon Jazz with Kansas City's native son and saxophonist Morgan Faw joined by his band The Flame with the song Watson Family BBQ" off 2022 album It Takes a Village. From there, we pay tribute to baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber. As the episode unfolds, we discover interesting songs and stories from Beverley Church Hogan, Ezra Weiss and Tim Fitzgerald. In between, we hear legends Oscar Peterson and Wes Montgomery. It all comes to a ...
read moreRonnie Cuber: Live At Montmartre
by Chris Mosey
Of all the musical instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the mid-19th century, the baritone saxophone remains the least played. Harry Carney persuaded Duke Ellington to use the heavy, cumbersome instrument and it became a distinctive part of the band's sound. Others who have played the baritone saxophone include Cecil Payne, Pepper Adams, Serge Chaloff and--for reasons that remain obscure--Lisa Simpson (perhaps she welcomed the challenge). Gerry Mulligan and the Swede Lars Gullin gave the instrument a distinctive, laid-back, specifically ...
read moreRonnie Cuber: Infra-Rae: Ronnie Cuber Meets The Beets Brothers
by Raul d'Gama Rose
It is easy to forget an elder statesman such as the magisterial Ronnie Cuber, who continues to give commanding performances on his baritone saxophone. The absence of a sense of history clouds successive generations, who will honor young masters like Brian Landrus but forget the ancestors. The great tones from the bass end of the saxophone family would be nothing without men such as Harry Carney, Gerry Mulligan, Cecil Payne, Pepper Adams, and of course, Cuber. The saxophonist, who was ...
read moreTom Scott with Special Guest Phil Woods: Bebop United
by Michael P. Gladstone
The unblemished record of Pittsburgh's Mancheaster Craftsmen's Guild as a venue for recording jazz albums continues with the this new recording from Tom Scott with special guest Phil Woods. Scott has amassed a lengthy discography which has reflected high energy fusion, pop-soul and smooth jazz over the past two decades. His earlier years, however, found him playing strongly as a member of the Don Ellis and Oliver Nelson Big Bands.
In 1992, Scott returned to the mainstream with Born Again, ...
read moreTom Scott: Bebop United
by Jim Santella
For Bebop United Tom Scott convened a a group of veterans for a straight-ahead live auditorium performance in Pittsburgh. His cohesive ensemble interprets each selection with a comfortable groove and a lot of soul. Featuring Phil Woods on three numbers, the concert brings slow ballads and up-tempo romps to its audience convincingly. Trumpeter Randy Brecker and tenor saxophonist Scott provide much of the dialogue, each bringing a warm presence to the concert.
For His Eyes, Her Eyes, soloists ...
read moreTom Scott: Bebop United
by John Kelman
He's had a multifaceted career in almost every imaginable area of jazz--not to mention working as a gun for hire on albums by singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King. It's easy to forget that saxophonist Tom Scott actually started out as a jazz traditionalist. While his own albums have leaned more towards fusion and contemporary jazz, the early days of his career found Scott cutting his teeth on albums by Oliver Nelson, Don Ellis and Thelonious Monk.
So when ...
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